Texas A&M Moving Forward With Renovation or Replacement of Kyle Field

By Chris Hengst

Texas A&M isn’t really in need of anything new considering their conference affiliation changes this summer but the Aggie administration felt what the hell, let’s double down on exit fees and throw some loot at the stadium.

The result of the study will provide Texas A&M and 12th Man Foundation officials with multiple design options for the future of the 83,002-seat stadium and will address staging of construction, preliminary cost estimating and construction timelines. Additionally, the Populous team will conduct marketing research related to the stadium project and will provide recommendations with respect to sponsorships, operations and technology related to Kyle Field.

Understandably with the shift to the SEC, the Aggies experienced a rise in ticket sales and hope to capitalize on alum interest to drum up more donations. I’ll be intrigued whether the scope of the project requires a stadium sponsor. It’s sacrilegious to expect the Kyle Field moniker to disappear but “Kyle Field at Clear Channel Stadium” could provide tens of millions in additional revenue. Is there a price on tradition or at some point does it simply become a business decision?

Construction is slated to occur following the 2013 season. It seems likely that barring a complete overhaul or demolition of Kyle Field, the Aggies will continue playing there. Should they require a full season away from College Station, Reliant Stadium in Houston makes realistic sense. And if a new stadium is built, West Campus appears to be the locale.

Aggie executives seem to have already done the majority of the leg work on these renovations. Populous offers the mark-up’s, charges a lavish fee and then Texas A&M goes about explaining to the fan base why some folks won’t have their normal seats in 2014.

Still, it’s an exciting time in Aggieland with all the change afoot.

Change is expensive though and a sparkling new home for Kevin Sumlin‘s team won’t come cheap.